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Northrop Grumman moving HQ to Washington D.C. by 2011

Major defense contractor Northrop Grumman said it plans to move its headquarters from Los Angeles to the Washington D.C. area by 2011.

The company is looking for a site in the region and plans to identify one by spring 2010.

This doesn't mean a lot of new jobs for the region -- the company plans on moving about 300 people of the 120,000 who work worldwide for Northrop -- but it is a big catch for the region and a tough image blow, at least in prestige, for the battered California economy.

"As a global security company with a large customer base in the Washington, D.C. region, this move will enable us to better serve our nation and customers," Northrop chief executive Wes Bush said a statement.

Northrop is the father of the proposed KC-45 tanker, the inflight refueling aircraft that was the subject of a big fight with rival Boeing.

Frank Ahrens is their first lobbyist. The KC 45 is an Airbus plane to be assembled by Northrup. He should give all the facts. I guess they do not want to do all that cross country travel in one of Boeings planes.

Business hostile California State Government strikes again by running off another major corporation, Northrop Grumman. Soon, the only employer in the entire state will be state government, and those few will be laid off because there will be no businesses left to tax that would pay for them!

This is a major win for the region, though not likely D.C., as it's likely that Northrop Grumman will set up shop in MD or Northern Virginia. While only several hundred jobs, having the HQ of a hue defense contractor is terrific. Lots of big wins lately: Hilton, SAIC, CSC, Volkswagen, etc. Keep 'em coming!

Why this move? Is NGC getting a big tax incentive? How many jobs will be lost in the LA region? California has a lot of very talented people working in aerospace that will be forced to change occupations, but to what? Just seems to make no sense of announcing more than a year in advance. Need more info to form an intractable opinion.

This is only logical. NGC is already the second largest employer in the area behind McDonald's. They probably won't close any other CA facilities because they generate revenue where the HQ doesn't directly. They have a high concentration of facilities in NOVA and a fair number in the District & MD already.

California has simply been turned into a hostile enivornment! (Pssst...I have heard that Carl's Jr might be outta here, too) As a 5th generation Californian and a grandmother, I have seen California go from the top state in the nation to the bottom, where we are today. It is all due to the 30 years of a consistently liberal legislature that has interpreted the ESA into the most diabolical maniacal environmental agenda to spend so many gazillions of dollars on the environment with absolutely nothing to show for it. Under their watch, our roads are disintegrating and unsafe in many areas, and California's water delivery and flood control system is stuffed with habitat and the unmaintained levees threaten to flood the northern agricultural communities and the Sacramento urban areas as well as really damage the Delta. There needs to be more storage to protect the downstream areas from flooding and to provide more needed water. DUH.
But there remains tons of money for the environment available today, thanks to the duped and manipulated urban voters who thought they were getting more water when they were getting more habitat...Remember that the legislature chose to always fund any and all other social desires, when we all thought that education and transportation was pretty close to jobs #1 and #2 for governmental responsibility....
With your children returning to their crowded classrooms that have teachers who are forced to furlough, remember who your representatives are and throw them ALL out.

One writer noted that Northrop Grumman was moving to Washington to avoid having to fly on Boeing planes. Actually, with a 38,400# payload, they could commute the whole 300 employees based there in a couple of their B2 stealth bombers comfortably and the Boeing lobbyists wouldn't even see them coming.

Recently I moved back to California. I had moved from here in the 90's to various parts of the country. It was a bad place to live in the 80's & early 90's it's even worse now. The tax monster has taken over to an insane level. When did they make a Chevy Luv pickup a commericial vehicle. Seems like anything to steal the money of business and the hard working people of California. And yet the ones who play the system for the free ride and were not talking all about a single group of people, but the many groups who are larger offenders in California who really know how to use the systems in California for their free rides. I believe it to be a wise move for this company and any other large companies who wants to survive to leave this greed powered money grubbing state. If this state wants to save the hard working people and business they need to work on there overall immigration problem. Would save billions of dollars not just millions and maybe taxes and costs will drop to match the rest of the country and businesses could grow. Glad to see them move for the better and hope them the best.

It's desert tortoise, not desert turtle. California still has lots of good features--such as 80 degrees yesterday (1/3/10), walking the dogs wearing short sleeve shirts. As far as the move goes--the usual rule of thumb is that corporate moves are to a place 8 miles or less from the CEO's house/mansion. Anyone know the answer to that?

I was wondering why you Californians were secretly moving to North Florida...now I know...no income tax, cheap oceanfront, rivers, little bureaucracy, and hurricanes are more predictable than earthquakes, wildfires and mudslides. Ask FIDELITY why they left SANTA BARBARA and relocated their corporation to Jacksonville Florida.
Because it's not screwed up yet, and it's just an hour to Miami by plane, New York in 3.

this decision comes down to the incentives for NGC's hq relo as much as, if not more than, location itself. truth of the matter is, historically, md has levied high taxes on biz. nova has received much of the priv biz hq's because of this single factor. what is little known is how much dev is taking place in md and how md caters to existing primary biz in the state in terms of tax breaks, etc. md has more at stake to turn the tide in their favor and can offer incredible incentives, especially if md learned anything from the saic move. in terms of location, md is a premier state for public sector investment, quality of labor force, national sec funding, military funding, brac realign, aerospace, cyber sec, commerce. an NGC hq in moco puts it close to dc.nsa.nasa as it would be to the pentagon. dc area md has invested several bil$ in brand new sec-ready office dev..including national harbor area..to facilitate biz growth. these should be of interest to NGC. i do believe nova has a better hand in this due only to historical track record. however, NGC should not put all eggs into one basket when it comes to relo here in dc area. nor should NGC limit its presence and investment too heavily in just one state. for private biz in the area is too top heavy in nova. believe or not, the next burgeoning area with now cheapest digs, best proximity, most room for growth is pg, charles co. md